Former Karnataka minister Janardhan Reddy granted bail in bribery case

Bengaluru: Ballari mining baron and former Karnataka minister G Janardhan Reddy was granted bail by a court here Wednesday in an alleged Ponzi scheme fraud case.

"It is allowed," Sixth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate V Jagadeesh said in his order on the bail plea of Reddy, who was arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the city police Sunday.

A magistrate's court here had remanded Reddy to judicial custody till November 24 Sunday. Reddy was arrested following a marathon questioning after he appeared before the CCB, ending his elusive run for three days.

The CCB had been on the lookout for Reddy, who was declared absconding by the police last week in connection with a transaction worth crores of rupees allegedly linked to a Ponzi scheme fraud involving hundreds of crores of rupees.

Reddy has been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 204 (destruction of evidence), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating), as also under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

The court had asked the CCB Tuesday whether there were any complaints against Reddy and whether the charges against him were filed merely on the basis of a statement of an accused.

The defence counsel had questioned the necessity of arresting Reddy when the courts had granted bail to five accused in the case.

The CCB was also on the lookout for Reddy's close aide Ali Khan, who had allegedly struck a Rs 20-crore deal with Syed Ahmed Fareed of the Ambidant Marketing Pvt Ltd, a company accused of involvement in the ponzi scheme, to bail him (Fareed) out of an Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe.

Khan has obtained bail from the Sessions Court. During investigation, Fareed, who is on bail, had claimed that he had paid the money so as to get help from Reddy to bail him out in connection with the ED probe.